Of Smoke & Shadows
by art3misthehuntress
Summary: Sub-Zero has been captured by Shao Kahn in a nefarious scheme to rule both realms. To rescue him, Smoke has to form a temporary alliance with another deadly assassin to free his friend. How far can he trust this new confederate when Sub-Zero's life hangs in the balance and time is of the essence?


Notes from Art3mis: I just wanted to state that this story is not to be taken seriously. It is just a fun little AU thing that I contribute to when life gets boring. Unfortunately, this means that not all things will make sense to the seriously hardcore MK fans, (an example being the alternate timeline, which this story follows more than the original) and to those people I apologize. I only recently arrived on the MK scene, and while I enjoy it immensely I do not know every bit of lore as of yet. More of our favorite characters will be making appearances later on, I promise. Lastly, I am only a 16-year-old girl with a wild imagination, so if the writing is not that good I ask that you please ignore any mechanical errors even if it kills a little bit of your soul inside. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to and/or belonging to Mortal Kombat. If I did, I would probably be a lot richer. The only character that is mine is… well I don't want to give away her name just yet. Let's just say the only female in here as of this chapter. The story avatar/image was kindly provided by cbidgie on deviantART.

**Chapter 1**

The silver clad ninja did not walk through the forest so much as drift like smoke over water. For that was who he was, the human embodiment of the dark airborne substance that could slowly choke the life out of anyone who dared challenge it. Defender of Earthrealm and trained Lin Kuei assassin, Smoke had received news of Sub-Zero's capture by Shao Kahn from Raiden who chose "not to get involved at the time." Although he certainly respected the thunder God, and possibly even admired him, Raiden's decision to not take part in the rescue of Sub-Zero more than miffed Smoke. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise; most assassins preferred to play things close to the vest. _No loose ends._

Smoke moved with purpose past the surrounding thickets, foliage, and low hanging branches that threatened to swallow any passerby whole. If he continued at this pace he would reach Shao Kahn's fortress by the next night. He hated to admit it, but he didn't have much of a plan at this point. So many things could (and most likely would) go wrong. Still, stealth seemed the best option to make it to the dungeons undetected, but the entire place would be crawling with Tarkatan minions. All this was assuming Sub-Zero was even still alive at this point, and this whole rescue operation wasn't a complete waste of time. Still, he doubted Raiden would have let him continue had he known it was a futile task.

A twig snapped behind him, sending a shrieking, startled raven soaring out into the open above the tangled brush. The ninja was immediately on high alert; he felt his muscles tense as he scoured the darkness for the source of the disturbance. Out of the corner of his right eye he saw a tiny shift of movement, a glint of reflected light on metal.

"Show yourself!" he called out to the wilderness. Silence, coupled with the soft sound of trickling water from a nearby riverbed was the only response. "I said come out...Kano."

On cue, a huge hulking monster of a man stepped out from behind an overgrown tree. He propped himself up against the trunk, removed a butterfly knife from his belt, and started twirling it between his fingers. There was something entrancing about the way the dagger spun and danced about without drawing a nick of blood. He turned and grinned at the grey ninja.

"Long time no see, mate." he said, his Australian accent laced with sarcasm. "Shao Kahn doesn't want you to cause trouble for him...that's why I dropped by to say hello."

Smoke remained still. So Kano allied himself with Shao Kahn? Interesting… yet he supposed that money was the main motivator in this case, as it usually was with the Black Dragons.

"I'm surprised you could find me, subtlety was never your forte." Smoke retorted.

Kano's distorted face twisted down into a grimace, yet he chuckled darkly. "Can't take all the credit this time. Not that I can't do it on my own of course, but the boss wanted to make sure you couldn't slip away."

Smoke remained silent, but studying Kano, he noticed his eyes flick to the left just for a second. It was all the ninja needed. Following his gaze, Smoke could just make out the faint outline of another, more slender figure covered in form fitting black from head to toe. A cloth mask covered the majority of their face, save for their eyes which were fixated on him. The newcomer remained in the shadows, but as Smoke adjusted to the blackness he gathered it was a female, young, but she carried herself with what could only be described as an air of confidence. As she turned to join Kano, twin sheaths for dual kodachi short swords became visible . They clung to the small of her back and crossed in the middle to form an x above her hips.

"Looks like you're a little outnumbered, friend." As Kano pushed himself upright, Smoke saw his companion use both hands to reach behind her back. A soft _shing _told him that she had drawn her weapons.

_This was not good. _He did not have time for a detour; he would have to fight these two to reach Sub-Zero. "Numbers aren't everything" he muttered under his breath as he ran towards Kano a kunai in hand. He slashed as the man's face while simultaneously dodging blows and sweeps from the female warrior. The opposition did well to balance each other out. She was agile, and would attempt to get close to knife him with the kodachi before backpedaling immediately with a flip or strafe, all the while avoiding his blows. Kano on the other hand… well Smoke had faced him before. As slow as he was ugly, but powerful to boot, Smoke was careful to avoid his punches or the laser from his cybernetic eye.

_Let's even out the playing field a bit. _Dropping the girl with a well-placed hook to the abdomen, he threw a thick cloud of sooty smoke at Kano. The man let out a grunt, and as he attempted to clear his vision by rubbing his eyes Smoke drew his kunai across the partly metal face. Kano howled with rage; a deep scar seeping crimson ran from his left eye to the corner of his mouth. Just as Smoke was about to run the kunai down Kano's chest, he was knocked off balance and collapsed to one knee. Kano's companion had kicked his legs out from under him, but it had left her in a vulnerable position on the ground. Without hesitation, he rolled toward her and managed to pin both her arms down before receiving another even harder kick, this time to the stomach. She bucked her hips skyward, the momentum being enough to get one arm free and bring one of the blades up to strike. Smoke barely avoided the tip of one of the kodachi by awkwardly maneuvering sideways and sliding onto his back. This time _he _was the vulnerable one, but for some inexplicable reason she held back. It wasn't until he saw the considerably-more-disfigured-than-earlier Kano appear over him that he realized why. Roughly yanking Smoke to his feet, Kano shoved their faces to within inches apart. He looked positively terrifying with the metal mask covering half his face, and the still-bleeding scar on the other part.

"Shao Kahn is going to make you _suffer_…" he spat out menacingly, while relishing every word, "but before then I'm going to have a little fun first…" As he gripped a butterfly knife, a sharp voice cut through the glade.

"Kano!.." warned the female who in the meantime had risen to her feet clutching her middle, albeit with a gasp of pain.

A shadow passed over the leering cyborg, and for a moment it looked as if he was going to attack _her_. Then turning back to Smoke he placed one arm over his neck in a choke hold and squeezed. Seconds later, the forest began to fade fast. The last thing Smoke could make out before the darkness finally overtook him was the dampness of the earthen ground and the _shing_ of two blades returning to their sheaths.

_Well that was fun wasn't it? I sincerely hope you enjoyed what you read; please leave any thoughts in the review section or drop me a message. I really do plan on continuing this, but it may take some time to upload new sections as I am in some really challenging high school classes this year._


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